Hi Friends!
December was pretty special for our family and I hope it was for yours as well!
Since I am on staff at a church, it was a busy but fun season. One amazing gift that we received, was two weeks off, starting on Christmas Day. What an incredible gift to all of us since I've been able to spend so much time with my adult kiddos!
On December 11th, Zac graduated from Arizona State University, Summa Cum Laude with his bachelors in Communication and a 4.1 GPA. It was a long road. To this day, I don't know if I am more proud that he stepped away from college to spend time with his dad, who had cancer, or if I'm more proud that he went back, worked two jobs and graduated with honors. I guess I'm just plain PROUD! He's a hero in our family and the most hard working and determined human we know.
On the 17th, Nathan came home for Christmas! He is always our favorite gift, for sure!
He has been here for 16 days and we have had a blast the whole time.
When he arrived, the first thing he wanted to do was take his mom on a date. How sweet is that? And he told me to order anything I wanted and not to look at the price! What a sweetheart! We had an amazing dinner and happened to walk up to a movie-on-the-lawn event that was taking place downtown. It was A Charlie Brown Christmas and at the very best part, when Linus explains what Christmas really means. So fun! Then we went out for dessert.
At the beginning of December, Joy's brakes stopped working and the fix was going to be $2,000! (that Prius life)
Y'All, buying a car is not for the faint of heart! Super thankful for our 'village' and all the input we received and especially for my boss and dear friend,who knows how to haggle! Joy came away with a good deal on a 3 year old car, which is a Toyota but not a Prius. Oh happy day! She is thrilled to have a safe, reliable car and happy to make the payments on it.
Andrew's best friend asked him to baptize him while his family was in town for Christmas. What an honor it was for Andrew. He had been praying for his friend for many years and it has been one of the high points of our whole year to see God moving in this friend's life.
We had dear friends from CA stay here with us for the week of Christmas which was fun.
Our church always does the most beautiful Christmas Eve service and this year was no exception. We all went and were blessed. Due to some food allergies we found out about this year, our Christmas Eve dinner menu changed a bit, but it was still fantastic. We thought we would be without two family members that night, which was a little sad but when your kids are grown, you learn to go with the flow during the holidays and not mind who can and can't be present. Anyway, it was great fun that those who couldn't, suddenly popped in the door, right before Christmas Eve dinner! What a gift!
On Christmas day, we slept in a bit because grown kids aren't as excited as little ones!
We had a nice Christmas brunch and opened presents and enjoyed being together. It was actually the very first time in 365 days that just our immediate family had been together to share a meal.
Amazing!
That was the best part for Nathan.. He had been looking forward to that moment his entire trip home. I'm so glad my kids love and appreciate being together! We always feel that we are "better together" and that is really pretty special!
We saw Mary Poppins Returns later in the day and some of us loved it and some got a goo d Christmas nap. LOL Then Zac and Tiffany hosted a Christmas dinner party that night that we all went to, along with her family.
A Christmas coma resulted and mainly just relaxed the next couple of days.
On New Year's Eve day, some of my kids and one of my extra kids and I went to our favorite local, coffee food truck and talked about all that God had done in our lives in 2018 and what we hoped for in 2019. It was a really special time. I love hearing their hearts! And I always feel blessed that my 20 something-year olds want me hanging out with them in the first place. Yay!!!! They are the best!
That night, I went to two New Year's Eve parties and made it home before midnight, therefore avoiding all the awkwardness of not having someone to kiss at midnight. Mission accomplished!
On New Year's Day, Nathan had us up and out of the house EARLY for an adventure he had been planning for days. We went to swim in a natural spring in the Ocala National Forrest. And being that this is Florida, it isn't odd when it is 81 degrees on January 1st. The spring is always 73 degrees, so the kids really enjoyed it once they got used to it. I think 73 is a bit nippy and chose to sunbathe. It was a gorgeous spring and Nathan used his iPhone X plus something something, : )
to make UNDERWATER VIDEOS without even a waterproof case!!!
It has a water ejection system! How crazy is that?! He could take it down in 7 feet of water for 30 minutes! He got some incredible footage! There were lots of fish, snorkelers, a turtle and plants and beautiful rock formations. He was in heaven!
Then we cleaned up and went for coffee and then drove to Disney Springs for dinner. Great memories were made by all!
Looking back, I'm so grateful for all the hard parts of 2018 and all the blessings!
God is always faithful!
Here's to living everyday of 2019 for the applause of Heaven!
~Becky
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